The plunge.

The house my family moved into this summer, while I was at camp, is a cozy house. It has a cozy kitchen, a cozy little bedroom for me, and the coziest bathroom possible with a bathtub. Because storage is at a premium in relation to the house we moved from, we invested in one of those above-toilet-shelving units that fits, despite the snug layout (sink next to toilet next to tub). It is metal with the wire lattice shelves that resemble cooling racks.

These shelves (the wire part specifically) have caused frustration since coming home for winter break and now student teaching. When you set bottles or tubes of hairgel/hand cream on the wire, you have to make sure they are balanced over the cross brace of the shelf or really carefully so that they do not wobble and tip over, crashing to the floor with a glorified clank as it hits the shelves below it on the way down.

More recently my toothbrush has been problematic. I rest it on my toothpaste on the shelf. The toothpaste lays there pretty well…it’s more or less flat, but I like to balance the brush so that it’s bristles do not touch the tube or the shelf. I’ve had some teetering moments when I thought “It’d be a good idea to get a cup to put my toothbrush in, or my toothbrush could fall in the toilet directly below” but I neglected the idea for more pressing matters like going to bed or leaving for work on time.

Last night, I got ready for bed, balanced the hair gel tube and the lotion bottle on the shelves, brushed my teeth and balanced the toothbrush as described above. The thought of it falling in the toilet crossed my mind again, as it wobbled for a second, but I steadied it and turned around to pick up some clothes on the floor I had exchanged for pajamas after my shower…when I heard a clunk, clunk I turned around, knowing what it was. I watched in slow motion, in horror, as my toothbrush completed an Olympics competitive dive into the toilet…hardly any splash and straight entry…straight so the handle went down the hole-drain thing. The bristle end was floating.

Gross, right? The thing is, I had cleaned the toilet earlier in the day. The brush would have been fine…had I not used the toilet since. And I had only used it right before my shower…minutes before the final dive.

If there is a bright side, it is that it was a brush that was slightly bigger than I prefer. I replaced it with a smaller, softer one that is working much better…in a cup by the sink when I’m not using it!